Monday, August 3, 2015

july garden

Well, so much for consistent, mid-month garden updates!

There is a lot of living and a lot of garden growing in the month of July, hence the July update given in August.

We are daily harvesting squash, peppers, cherry and roma tomatoes, herbs, green beans, and until recently, cucumbers. We've harvested one crop of corn, and are beginning to slowly harvest ears off the other variety we planted. Although we harvested the potatoes some weeks ago, they are going to last quite a while and we are still eating from that harvest.

Since the rainfall has been so consistent this Summer, my husband just watered the plants for the first time Saturday on August 1st. That is unheard of and a great blessing.

My usual routine is to put tomatoes in the oven to roast at about 6am (so the house doesn't get too hot), go back to bed, turn off the oven around 7am, eat breakfast around 730am and then gather the harvest from the garden after that while the weather is still cool. Evening is when my husband scours the squash plants for bugs, an essential task if we are to enjoy fruit from those plants.

Other than that maintaining the garden is pretty low key. Our raised beds keep the weeds to a minimum, so there isn't much to do there. Empty potato beds have been planted with Spinach and Kale for harvest in a month or two. This really is the time to enjoy fresh vegetables with our meals, and process what is left for freezer storage to enjoy in Fall and Winter.

Right now the backyard is lush and green. However, over this month and into September everything will begin to turn a shade of brown, signaling the end of Summer. Now is the time to truly savor what we harvest.